RCC94 - Dads Grills & Summer Fun

Hey everyone!  Here to share my card for this month's Ribbon Carousel challenge.



I needed a good excuse to get another Father's Day card done, so went with the 'Dad' part of the challenge.

I think remotes are the ultimate Dad symbol, both my Dad and Andrew are frequently found in close proximity to the remote, so I prominently featured the remove from Jane's Doodles' It's a Guy Thing set.  I stamped all but one in second generation.

The sentiment was created with Lawn Fawn's Milo's ABCs, and I finished the card off with various strips of washi tape.

I hope you will play along this month.  A random will will win a 10 pack of spools, and all you have to do is link up a project over at the Ribbon Carousel blog based on this month theme which uses ribbon, twine, thread, washi, or anything that comes on a spool.

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Avery Elle - White cardstock
Stamps:  Jane's Doodles' - It's a Guy Thing; Lawn Fawn - Milo's ABCs
Ink:  CTMH - Black
Other:  Various washi tapes; American Crafts - This and That Foam Adhesive

RCC91 - Party Time!

I'm so happy that the Ribbon Carousel Challenge is back, and this month in honor of the Ribbon Carousel's third birthday, the theme is Party Time.

Your card doesn't have to be a birthday card, a card celebrating any holiday or occasion will do.  

One lucky participant this month will win their own Ribbon Carousel!  



 There are only four (4) rules you must follow to be eligible for the prize:

1. You MUST use ribbon, twine, thread, washi tape or anything that comes on a spool on your creation
2. Your project must be based on the theme of the month.
3. You must add a NEW project to the inlinkz at the Ribbon Carousel Challenge blog
4. You may enter the challenge 3 times maximum to be qualified to win a prize.

On to my card, as you may have noticed, there has been a lot of watercoloring here lately and today's card is no exception.  I'm using a technique from Day 5 of OCC's Watercolor class, watercoloring embossed images.  




The sample shown in class was a background, so the colored spaces were relatively small and similarly sized.  This is more a focal image so there's more of a variation in the size of the colored areas, but it works just as well.

I love the soft airy look of it, although you could certainly go much bolder with your colors.  Once I was done I wanted to get the image a little more definition, so similar to how you trace around an image with a light gray/blue when coloring with markers, I added a little shadow around the shapes and sentiment.  




A little Divine Twine finished the card off.

Hope you will play along with the challenge this month!

Supplies UsedPaper/Cardstock:  Avery Elle - Silver Fox Cardstock; Strathmore - Mixed Media paperStamps:  Jane's Doodles - Party TimeInk:  VersamarkOther:  Ranger - Distress Markers and Water brush  Stampendous - White Embossing Powder; Divine Twine - Deep Pink Solid Twine; Tombow - Stamp Runner

Ribbon Carousel Challenge 90 - Washi Tape

Hey everyone!

This month's Ribbon Carousel challenge is Washi tape.  Everyone has a ton, right?

I thought I would take the opportunity to knock out a couple more birthday cards for Andrew's kids at  school.

I love how versatile washi is.  It's a great alternative to using patterned paper or a background stamp



For the card above I put down a mix of washi tape diagonally.  Then I used a scrap of cardstock and laid down several rows of black and white polka dot washi from which the 'happy' was die cut.  I die cut the 'birthday' from regular cardstock, adhered it to some vellum, and then adhered that to the card using some very strategically cut and placed pieces of foam tape.  I wasn't sure how my adhesive would work on the washi, but Tombow Multi Mono works like a charm.



I figured while I was at it I would make another card with an extra die cut sentiment I had, so I just randomly added some strips of washi to a cardstock panel and adhered the sentiment on top.




Now it's your turn.  Create a project using washi and link it up over at the Ribbon Carousel.  One random participant will win a set of 12 spools filled with 4 spools each of seam binding, baker's twine, and May Arts ribbon.   

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardsotck:  CTMH - White Daisy and Black Cardstock; Bazzill Card Shoppe - Candy Hearts and Banana Split Cardstock; Recollections - Vellum
Stamps:  Papertrey - Wonderful Words Additions
Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black
Other:  Papertrey - Wonderful Words Dies, Birthday Trio Die Collection; Various Washi Tapes; Silhouette Studio Happy Birthday Die Cut Design #44052; Tombow - Mono and Multi Mono Adhesives; CTMH - Dimensional Foam Tape 

RCC89 - Happy Birthday

****For the On the Corner Blog Hop scroll down

Hey everyone!  Here to share my card for this month's Ribbon Carousel challenge.  There's a little bit of everything here.  Make a love card, a birthday card or a get well card.  I chose birthday and inked up a new set I recently got from My Favorite Things.  Isn't she cute?



A very simple card.  I really wanted to work on my coloring.  I was a little bit nervous about the hair when I bought this set, but she is just so sweet, I persuaded myself to go for it.  She is colored with a combination of Spectrum Noir markers and Copics (the reds are Copics and the rest were Spectrum Noir).

The sentiment is actually a single line, but I did a little masking to to make it a two liner.  I added some fun pom pom trim to the bottom as well as some sequins to break up the white space on the card.

So make sure to play along, you have plenty of time, and a random participant will win a set of spools with the winner's choice of seam binding, baker's twine or May Arts ribbon.  

Thanks for coming by, hope you are having a great day!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Crafter's Companion - White Cardstock; Avery Elle - Aquamarine Cardstock
Stamps:  My Favorite Things - Wendy Burn's Designs Best Friends, Celebrate Big
Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black
Other:  Copics; Spectrum Noir Markers; May Arts - Black Mini Pom Pom Trim; Neat & Tangled - Red Sequins; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; CTMH - Liquid Glass

Ribbon Carousel Challenge - Anything Goes

Hey everyone!  It's Anything Goes this month at Ribbon Carousel, and I thought I would share with you the cards that we are sending out this year for Christmas.  I made two versions, dark/light mostly because my goal was to use what I had, and I only had so much of the two papers I used for the die cuts.

I wanted to make sure that the card was relatively easy to mass produce and mail friendly as well.  There are a fair number of steps in the card, but overall pretty easy to put together.  I stamped the backgrounds first and let them dry while I die cut the landscape pieces.  For the lighter version they had to dry overnight since I used Brilliance pigment ink.  Then came adhering the die cut piece, embossing the sentiment, and then tying on the twine and adhering the entire panel to the card.

When I'm in mass production mode, I generally produce over a few evenings. So the first evening was stamping the background, die cutting, prepping the card bases.  Second/third evenings were adhering the die cut, embossing the sentiment, and final card assembly.



What do you think?  Which version is your favorite?  I go back and forth, but haven't quite settled on which I like the best....depends on what mood I'm in.

And have you heard?  There is good news and bad news.  The bad news is that Corinna is shutting down the Ribbon Carousel store for a year.  She's got her priorities in the right place and needs to focus elsewhere for a little bit, but she is ALWAYS thinking, and I'm guessing that when she opens back up there will be fantastic stuff in store for us all.

The good news is that there is a HUGE sale going on, half off all carousels - this would be a GREAT time to get one as they are $45 and shipping is free in the US.  The other good news is that we're going to be continuing the challenge even during the store hiatus.

Hope you will link up this month...it's a no brainer...Anything Goes and the winner gets a free Carousel!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - Whisper Cardstock; Crafter's Companion - White Cardstock: Fancy Pants - Home For Christmas Papers (solids used for the die cuts)
Stamps:  Hero Arts - BasicGrey RSVP Tiny Star Background; Verve - Peace on Earth
Ink:  Tsukineko - Versamark, Brilliance Platinum Dew Drop; Hero Arts - Wet Cement Shadow Ink
Other:  Memory Box - Modern Landscape Die; The Twinery - Maraschino Twine; CTMH - Gold Embossing Powder; Tombow - Mono Adhesive and Mono Multi Adhesive

Thoughts and Prayers - and a BIG sale

I do so love the watercolor look, and I love how easy it is to achieve.

This card was a really quick and easy one to put together.  I used watercolor paper (and I get mine in the kids art department at Target....it's part of the Kid Made Modern line and it's a seriously great buy.    20 sheets for something like $3.99.  It's thick stuff too!

Anyway, all I did to create the background was cut the panel, then brush water onto the center portion, and then apply ink distress ink that I had pressed onto an acrylic block.  The center panel is a little softer and more even.  For that, I pressed my two colors of ink on to a block, spritzed it with water liberally and then pressed it to my paper and kind of swiped it across.  Then I just cut a portion of it out for the sentiment.

The sentiment is Verve and I added a little May Arts burlap string and American Crafts sheer ribbon to finish it off.



Speaking of ribbon, I mentioned a big sale, right?  Well, there's a BIG sale going on at Ribbon Carousel, half off carousels!  If you've been wanting one, now is THE time to get one, head over here to check it out!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Kid Made Modern Watercolor Paper from Target; Bazzill - Robin's Egg Card Shoppe Cardstock
Stamps:  Verve - Wonderfully Made
Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black; Distress Ink - Mowed Lawn and Salty Ocean
Other:  May Arts - White Burlap String; American Crafts - Sheer Ribbon; CTMH - Dimensional Foam Tape; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

Ribbon Carousel Holiday Blog Hop

 

Hey everyone! We've got such a treat in store for you this weekend! To celebrate all of those beautiful Ribbon Carousels being used around the world (yes, we've shipped Carousels to 27 countries now!) to keep ribbon, twine, washi tapes and spooled items tidy, we'll be hopping around our amazing Crewmates blogs this weekend showing you all of the beautiful and creative ways that our designers use THEIR Ribbon Carousels!

Would you like to win your very own Ribbon Carousel? Here is what you need to do: Visit the Designer’s blogs that are participating in each day of the blog hop and comment on their posts as you go. One of the Crewmate’s Holiday blogs (from each hop day) will be randomly chosen as the ‘it’ blog and a winner will be picked using a random number generator from the comments left on that Crewmate’s Holiday Blog Hop post.

And here is my Carousel.....I thought long and hard about if I should clean up my area, or 'stage' the Carousel somewhere else, but I decided that you should see it in it's native habitat.....my VERY messy craft area.  I hope that this makes some of you feel better about your crafty environs.  ;)

I have to say that what I love most about it is that I put my favorite items on there, and then when I craft around the house (nd I tend to do a fair amount of crafting downstairs while the hubby and I catch up on our DVR shows, I can just pick it up and bring it down with me and I have all my favorites on hand).  Saves me extra running up and down stairs.  

OK, since I've blinded you with my gory craft space, I figured I would leave you with a little eye candy.  A Christmas card I made a while ago that I just realized I hadn't posted yet.  Stamps are Hero Arts, and that twine is Teresa Collins that I colored red with a Spectrum Noir marker. 

 

OK, time to be on your merry way.  You will not know which blog has been chosen, so the more Crewmate Blogs you comment on, the better your chances are of winning your very own Ribbon Carousel! The Blog Hop will be open until 11:59 PM Eastern Time Monday, November 25th with the winners being announced Tuesday morning on the Ribbon Carousel Blog.

Already have a Ribbon Carousel?  Share a photo of YOUR Ribbon Carousel on our FaceBook page OR email it to info@ribboncarousel.com, and we'll share it for you!  You'll be in special drawing  for your 

choice of a Ribbon Carousel or 4 packages of spools!

 

For those that want a Ribbon Carousel NOW! Mark your calendar! We'll be having our LOWEST SALE PRICE of the YEAR sale on the Ribbon Carousels and Spools beginning Wednesday, November 27 - Cyber-Monday, December 2!  No coupon code needed!  Just go to our store and enjoy some happy shopping!

Here are the participants for Day 2 of the Ribbon Carousel Holiday Blog Hop. Enjoy!

RCC87 Holidays and Celebrations

Hey everyone!  Here to share my card for this month's Holidays and Celebrations challenge.

This is one of the cards I made last week at my buddy JJ's house.  It is just too much fun hanging out with crafty friends, not to mention using their stuff! 

I used the JJ's Studio Calico Cuppa Card kit as well as the Mama Elephant stamps that came in the Cinnamon Spice Add on.

I layered two of the papers to create the background/setting, and then stamped the sentiment and houses with Versamark on vellum embossing in gold.  The vellum piece is cut just slightly smaller than the patterned papers.

Some red satin ribbon was the perfect finish.  It's Christmasy, but not CHRISTMASY, which is abnormal for me, because I'm a pretty traditional red/green girl.

Make sure to link up a card over on the Ribbon Carousel blog.  I know you are all working on your holiday cards, and you just might win your very own Carousel!

Have a great day!

Supplies Used:  Studio Calico Cuppa Card Kit and Cinnamon Spice Add on; Versamark; Judikins - Gold Embossing Powder; Celebrate - Red Sating Ribbon; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

RCC86 - Fall and Halloween

Hey everyone!  Here to share my Ribbon Carousel card for this month.  Our theme is Fall and Halloween, and I went with the Fall theme, mostly because I really wanted to ink up this adorable new Lawn Fawn set.

I started by stamping all the main images:  tree, fox, and sentiment.  Then I went to work on the leaves using four colors to create a kind of ombre effect.  Since I knew I was going to be stamping another fox to color/fussy cut, I could stamp the leaves right over top of the other image without worrying about it.

The fox was stamped with Chocolate ink (like the rest of the images) and I colored him with a Spectrum Noir marker...just one, but going back and adding layers to get the shading.  I used a darker brown and black pen to accent the eyes/nose when I was done.  I also stamped and fussy cut a few leaves so I could add those to the base of the tree.  The heart for the sentiment was colored using a Faber Castell Big Brush Pen.  I love how rich and deep the colors are and you get a little bit of sheen too.

Some Cranberry grosgrain ribbon was the finishing touch.

Be sure to play along this month, you still have plenty of time, and someone will take home a brand new ribbon carousel!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - White Daisy and Chocolate cardstock; Bazzill Card Shoppe - Gold Coins cardstock
Stamps:  Lawn Fawn - Into the Woods
Ink:  CTMH - Chocolate, Creme Brulee, Honey, Goldrush, Autumn Terracotta
Other:  CTMH - Cranberry Grosgrain; Kuretake - Glue Pen; Faber Castell - Pale Geranium Lake PITT Artist big brush pen; Spectrum Noir - TN8, EB5; American Crafts - Black 08 Journaling Pen; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

RCC85 - Back to School

Hey everyone!  I'm sharing my Ribbon Carousel card for this month today.  Our theme this month is back to school, so I thought i would make a chalkboard card.

I used There She Goes Cutie Pi set, one of my very favorite from them.

Some woodgrain cardstock was used for the frame, and I added some red ribbon from Michael's for a great pop of color.

This came together so quickly.  I love how easy the chalkboard style is.  Normally this image would take me forever as I'm not the world's greatest colorer, and piecing is time consuming, but this I can do, and the fact is the chalkboard effect is really forgiving because it is supposed to be a little messy/off center.

Hope that you can play along this month.  One random participant will win a Ribbon Carousel!

I'm also going to link this up over at CASual Fridays since they have a back to school challenge too.  :)

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - Whisper and Black; Gmund - Bubinga Woodgrain cardstock; MME - Six by Six 2 My Favorite Things 6x6 pad
Stamps:  There She Goes - Cutie Pi
Ink:  Versamark
Other:  AC - Zing White Embossing Powder; Recollections - Ribbon; CTMH - Dimensional Foam Tape, Liquid Glass; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

RCC84 - Good Day Sunshine

Hey Everyone!  I'm here to share my card for this month's Ribbon Carousel Challenge - Summertime Fun

I went pretty clean and simple for this one.

I used my Studio Calico Circle Graph mask, misting it with a couple Dylusion ink sprays. 

The sentiment is from Unity's Good Day Sunshine Itty Bitty, and I added a bit of American Crafts sheer ribbon that I threaded through a couple slits made with my craft knife.

I'm going to be linking this up to Unity's Itty Bitty a Day challenge on facebook too.

Thanks so much for coming by!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - White Daisy and Black cardstock
Stamps:  Unity - Good Day Sunshine Itty Bitty
Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black
Other:  Studio Calico - Circle Graph mask; Ranger - Lemon Zest and Pure Sunshine Dylusions Ink Spray; American Crafts Sheer Ribbon, CTMH - Craft Knife; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

RCC83 - Heritage/Country Pride/Celebrations

Hey everyone, popping in to share my card for this month's Ribbon Carousel challenge.  Our theme this month is Heritage/Country Pride/Celebrations.  

For my card, I stamped the cute star/flag image and then colored it using watercolor pencils and a white gel pen.  I love how bright the gel pen is, it really holds it's own on kraft. 

The sentiment is from the same set, and a little bit of grosgrain was just the right touch to finish things off.  This card is slated for my Operation Write Home pile.  If you've never heard of OWH, please check them out, they are a great organization. 

Hope you will join us this month.  One random participant will receive their very own Ribbon Carousel! 

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - White Daisy and Kraft cardstock
Stamps:  Sweet n' Sassy Stamps - Patriotic Cocoa
Ink:  CTMH - Chocolate
Other:  CTMH - Watercolor Pencils; Signo - White Uniball Gel Pen; CTMH - Cranberry Grosgrain; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

Ribbon Carousel's June Challenge - Fun in the Sun

This month's challenge at Ribbon Carousel is a fun one.  I pulled out my Faber Castell Gelatos and Gel Medium and created this mixed media-ey card.

To create the background I first put down a light layer of my yellow gelato, then added water with a paint brush to get the yellow base.  Then I placed the Studio Calico mask over top, adding orange gelato in the rays.  Once that was done, I used the wet paintbrush to paint/set them.

After stamping the sentiment, from Mama Elephant's Smitten set, I colored the heart in with a colored pencil.

At this point you could call it a day and be done, but I thought it would be fun to add some texture, so I cut strips of May Arts white burlap string and painted them on using Faber Castell Gel Medium.  It was a little bit time consuming, but I like the extra definition and texture.

There's plenty of time to play along with this month's challenge.  Link up your project HERE, and you'll be in the running to win your very own Ribbon Carousel!

I'm also going to link this card up at Homemade Cards by Erin.  She's a big May Arts fan and is celebrating her 1000th post (wow!) with a contest on her blog, as well as CASology where this week's cue card is yellow.

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Bazzill Card Shoppe - Circus Peanuts cardstock; CTMH - White Daisy cardstock
Stamps:  Mama Elephant - Smitten
Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black
Other:  Faber Castell:  Yellow and Orange Gelatos and Gel Medium; Studio Calico - 12" x 12" Sunburst Mask; May Arts - White Burlap String; Close to My Heart - Holiday Red Watercolor Pencil; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

Best Day Ever - RCC81 Celebrations

 

Hey everyone!  Sharing a fun card for the Ribbon Carousel's May challenge today.  All month we are celebrating the Ribbon Carousel's second birthday, and all month Carousels are 30% off, so if you've been wanting one, this is a great time to get one.

OK, now to my card.  I thought it would be fun to make a more 'mature' take at a Sweet Sixteen card.  I created a frame using the woodgrain strip from Neat & Tangled's On the Strip 2 set. 

The mitres are kind of a cheat. I only cut them on the vertical strips, just left the horizontal ones squared up, makes it much easier to match up the corners.

I tied some pink seam binding around the key and adhered the it with a Zot.

The banner is from Mama Elephant's Good Times set.

I think any 16 year old would be thrilled to receive this card (or at least the key), don't you?

And just in case you're wondering, that's one of the extra keys for my car....I figure that it's safer on the card then elsewhere since I just found my actual keyfob (which had been missing for at least 6 months) in the back bottom of Carina's closet.

Hope that you will play along with the challenge this month.  One random winner will receive a free Ribbon Carousel!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - White Daisy and Chocolate cardstock; Glitz - Cashmere Dame 6x6 pad
Stamps:  Neat & Tangled - On the Strip 2; Mama Elephant - Good Times
Ink:  CTMH - Chocolate and Slate
Other:  CTMH - Dimensional Foam Tape; Polka Dot Whimsy - Pink Seam Binding; Thermoweb - Zots Dimensional Adhesive; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

Ribbon Carousel Birthday Blog Hop

Hey everyone! It's the Ribbon Carousel's 2nd Birthday today and we are celebrating with a Blog Hop! This is no ordinary Blog Hop. We are giving away over $750 in prizes....there is candy at EVERY stop!  It's our way of saying THANK YOU for all of your support these past two years!

Here are the RC Birthday Blog Hop details:
Between now and Saturday, May 4 at 11:59pm EST, visit each of the Ribbon Carousel Crewmate's blogs listed below and leave a comment. We'll draw a winner from the comments on EACH Crewmates blog using Random.org and announce the winners on Monday, May 5. So the more blogs you visit, the more chances of winning!

And that's not all, Corinna will be giving away prizes on the Ribbon Carousel Facebook Fan Page each day, so be sure to visit!

This is a pretty long hop, so I'm going to keep it short and sweet.  My card features the Party Dots stamp set from Neat & Tangled.  Incidentally, Neat & Tangled is the sponsor on my blog.  One of you lucky hoppers will win the stamp set of your choice!



I love this set, and used the large circle image as well as the border stamp to create a cosmic scene which was embossed in silver. 

The sentiment is from Waltzingmouse, and I added a little bit of American Crafts glitter tape at the bottom.  Pretty clean and simple, but fun and not your ordinary birthday card.

OK, I don't want to keep you, there's a ton more eye candy out there to see!  Have a great time hopping, the full list is below.

One last thing....if you've been thinking about picking up a Ribbon Carousel of your own, this month is the time to do it - they are 30% off this month!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - Black and White Daisy
Stamps:  Neat & Tangled - Party Dots; Waltzingmouse - Half Pint Heroes
Ink:  Versamark
Other:  CTMH - Silver Embossing Powder; American Crafts - Glitter Tape; Therm-o-web - Zots Dimensional Adhesive

 

Everything will be okay - RCC80 - Showers and Flowers

 

Hey everyone!  I'm excited to be sharing my first Ribbon Carousel Challenge post today.  This month's theme is Showers and Flowers, and here is my card:

I used the Dreamweavers Umbrella stencil.  I first used a rubber brayer to add black ink to the stencil and then pressed my cardstock directly on the stencil to create the outlines.  I had expected the color to be more even, but the ink kind of beads up on the stencil, which turned out to be a really neat effect. 

The entire piece was then sprayed with Plum Poppy Mister Huey's mist, concentrating the mist in the lower right corner.  I like that it does give the effect of rain as you move away from that bottom corner. 

For the trim, I added started with black grosgrain ribbon.  Grosgrain is one of my favorites, it's kind of that all purpose ribbon that works for almost everything.  A little trick, grosgrain is a great buy even if you don't particularly like the pattern, you can always turn it over and use the solid side, like I did here.  I layered two pieces of sheer ribbon over the grosgrain, overlapping them to get a second layer of color/depth.

The sentiment is one of my favorite Verve Plain Janes, and I finished it off with some My Mind's Eye All is Bright gems.

I'm also going to be linking this card up at Dreamweaver's for their April challenge:  clouds, showers, and mists as well as The Paper Girls Challenge:  April Showers Bring May Flowers.

Be sure to head over to the RCC Blog to check out some more great projects, and link up one of your own - there's a Ribbon Carousel at stake!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - White Daisy and Black
Stamps:  Verve - Everything is going to be Okay Plain Jane
Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black; CTMH - Black
Other:  Dreamweavers - Umbrella stencil; Speedball - Rubber Brayer; Studio Calico Mister Huey's - Plum Poppy; Teresa Collins - Welcome Home Trim Pack; American Crafts - Sheer Ribbon; Tombow - Mono and Vellum Adhesive; My Mind's Eye - Merry and Bright Faceted Gems

TGIF - Celebrate!

SO glad that it is Friday!  I'm celebrating with a fun and EASY card and post that is short and sweet!

This card measures 3 1/2" x 5 1/2".  I added some black glitter tape at the top and then tied that sheer bow.  (Sheer ribbon is hard to photograph, so you're missing a bit of the detail, but you definitely get some of that glitter/sparkle peeking through behind the center of the bow.

Some more glitter tape at the bottom and a fun Mama Elephant sentiment are all this one needs. 

Simon Says Stamp is celebrating their birthday this week with birthday cards and I'm linking this one up because I think it could defintiely pass muster for a birthday, don't you? 

Have a great end to your week/start to the weekend!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - White Daisy
Stamps:  Mama Elephant - Good Times
Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black
Other:  American Crafts - Glitter Tape; Recollections - Sheer Ribbon; Therm-O-Web - Zots Dimensional Adhesive

Chin Up Chickadee!

There was another perfect storm of challenges for me this week. I created this card for the Moxie Fab World Doilies and Lace Challenge, for Three Cool Chicks' Day #2 Doilies, RCC #54 Fancy Flowers, and I'm also going to enter into the Gallery Idol competition.

This is a fun mish mash of products. The paper is from a retired CTMH collection, called Wings. The little bird is a Fancy Pants rub-on from the It's the Little Things collection, the alpha stickers are Dear Lizzy (I added a little extra color with a sponge dauber to make them a little more blue), there's May Arts twine, and some great crochet lace that I got from Hydrangea Hippo.

The cluster of embellishments is also a mish mash. I'm using some of CTMH's retired crocheted flowers mixed with designer wood buttons, Twinery twine, May Arts twine and Dear Lizzy brads. I used one brad in the center of the large crocheted flower, and I actually popped the brad center off and put it into the small button (a little trick I learned from Jennifer McGuire).



If you want to know where to get that great doily, the answer is that I don't actually know. I'm a big fan of Stephanie Howell who uses a lot of doilies in her work. A while ago she mentioned that she takes home the doilies that restaurants use to decorate the plate under soup bowls, which I thought was a slightly hilarious and totally genius idea. Imagine my delight when I had to attend a conference last month and found this great doily on the bowl with the mints that were at my seat. I MIGHT have de-doilied the entire conference room following the conference.....

Anyway, I hope that you're having a great holiday weekend and staying cool. It's been pretty warm here this weekend, and the girls and I will be headed to the pool at my parents' tomorrow.

Supplies Used:
Cardstock/Paper: CTMH - Wings Collection; Cocoa and White Daisy cardstock
Ink: CTMH - Cocoa and Lagoon
Other: CTMH - Crocheted flowers; Designer Wood Buttons Dear Lizzy - brads and alphabet stickers; The Twinery cappucino twine; May Arts twine; Hydrangea Hippo natural crocheted lace; Random hotel doily

Brown paper packages tied up with string for TCM Birthday and RCC45

Just a simple little card to share with you today.

The Craft's Meow is celebrating their first birthday, and as part of the celebration they are hosting a bunch of challenges. This is for the color challenge. Here is the inspiration picture:



I love those great spring colors, and was also inspired by those baskets which kind of reminded me of kraft paper.

That little group of gifts is from TCM's The Merry Best stamp set, and while the set is a holiday one, that present stamp can be used for any occasion you would give a gift to someone.

As I started contemplating the card, 'My Favorite Things' from the Sound of Music started running through my head, and what better to wrap a brown paper package with than some baker's twine? Which makes this card perfect for this week's Ribbon Carousel Challenge, RCC45, 'Baking with the Twinery'.

I thought about using multiple gift images, but I opted for the clean and simple look, and I like how it turned out. The twine is from the Twinery: Buttercream, Peapod, and Denim, and I used Liquid Glass to adhere it. I first put the small strip that goes around the gift on, and then tied a tiny bow to match the bow on the stamp and adhered that separately.

I'm off to do a little more stamping before bed tonight. Hope your week is off to a good start!

Supplies Used
Cardstock/Water: CTMH - Kraft, White Daisy, Chocolate cardstock
Stamps: The Craft's Meow - The Merry Best; CTMH - A Typeface
Ink: Desert Sand
Other: CTMH - Desert Sand Marker (used to add a little extra definition to the edges of the gifts), Liquid Glass; The Twinery - Buttercream, Peapod and Denim twine

I Want Candy for RCC and Paper Issues

Sweet Stamp Shop, one of my favorites companies is sponsoring a sketch challenge at Ribbon Carousel, RCC44 this week. By sheer happy coincidence, Paper Issues' theme this week is "Welcome to the Candy Shop" so I'm linking this card up there too.

I love this card, because it was so much fun to put together, and it's so true. I do want candy, all the time. It's often the first thing I eat in the morning and the last thing I eat at night. I know where all the candy jars are at the office, and my colleagues have learned that I am easily bribed/appeased with tasty treats. I have a total sweet tooth....which I am sure is not why you are here, so let's get down to business.

There are a bunch of companies selling eye chart stamps (which I love, but haven't gotten a chance to purchase yet), and I wanted to do something similar with this card. I played around in Microsoft Word, trying out different fonts/sizes/spacing until I got the right look.

The glasses are from Sweet Stamp Shop's Spectacle set, which just came in the mail on Saturday and I was psyched to ink it up so soon. I also used their Sweet Tooth stamp set for the candy piece as well as to create the pattern on the circle piece. That was created with the bubble border stamp. I wanted it to be a little more solid, so I stamped inside the larger circles with the closest small round thing I could find....the end of a crayon. Kind of neat, huh?



This is for the Ribbon Carousel challenge and I used two trims. First, some Lemondrop Twinery twine. I pierced holes in the corners of the Lagoon cardstock piece and then threaded the twine through. For straight lines, this is a great way to 'adhere' the twine since you don't actually need to use any adhesive. I often find when I'm working with twine that it gets rather messy....I get adhesive in all sorts of places I don't want it, or the twine gets stretched/twisted too much or too little, so eliminating the need for adhesive is a big deal for me.



I also used some red grosgrain ribbon with white accents that I got at Christmastime from Michael's. I used red thread to tie the ends to kind of mimic the wrapping on a piece of candy.



So there you have it. What do you think? Make you want to have some candy too? I'm in trouble since I just finished my bag of Haribo Peach Gummies.....must get to the store.....

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock: CTMH - Cranberry, Lagoon, and White Daisy cardstock; Creative Memories - Red cardstock (candy piece); Bella Blvd - Winter Wonder, Icy
Stamps: Sweet Stamp Shop: Spectacle, Sweet Tooth
Ink: CTMH - Cranberry, Black
Other: The Twinery - Lemondrop Twine, Michael's - Red Grosgrain ribbon; CTMH - Dimensional Foam Tape, Piercing Tool